It’s T20 season and after the first two matches were cancelled, on Thursday 6 June the 1sts travelled to Runcorn where Andy Dufty won the toss and decided to bat first. The home side was given some early hope as Adrian Lascu was out at the last ball of the first over by Liam Radcliff (4/0//31/2), but Owen Williamson (31) picked up the pace with Danny Leech (25) for close to a 50-run partnership for the 2nd wicket, taking full advantage of the fielding restrictions in the first powerplay. Lewis Porter (11) replaced Owen and added another 27 runs to the total before Danny was LBW to David McNamara (4/0/20/1) in the 10th over, with a solid 81 on the board. Unfortunately, Lewis was well caught a few balls later by Runcorn’s skipper Kieran Maher off Robert Magee (4/0/33/1). Frank Farrington (33) then started working the ball to all areas on the pitch, first with Nick Ball, then with Andy Dufty (39*). Trying for a 2nd on the penultimate ball of the innings however saw Frank just short of his ground. With Andy Dufty on strike, Ben Kettle merely looked back to see a lusty Dufty-blow land well beyond the boundary to close the innings on 167.

In reply, skipper Kieran Maher (29) and wicketkeeper Patrick Tyrell (34) started with great enthusiasm, and during the first 8 overs, the home dressing room was hopeful of a positive result, while Andy started to mix up the bowling. Nick Ball (2/0/7/1) got the breakthrough we needed in the 9th over, with the score on 60. Tyrrell fell to James Bell (3/0/17/1) 12 balls and 17 runs later and from that moment runs were getting less easy to get and wickets fell regularly. Pick of the bowling was Lewis Porter (4/0/20/3) who showed good control and took care of David McNamara, who can be a threat when getting his eye in, but today was clean bowled on the 2nd ball he faced. With a bit of a tail-end collapse, Runcorn’s final wicket fell at the end of the 18th over, with the score on 118. A 49-run win with 12 balls to spare did our net run rate a lot of good but Premier League team Widnes played Ashley away and took no prisoners, getting 99 in 8.1 overs. We play Ashley on Thursday 13 June while Widnes play Runcorn on the same evening. Run rate will be the deciding factor in this group: Widnes’ NRR is currently 7.37, we’re 2nd in the group with 2.45.

On Saturday we were on the road again, this time to Marple who were on an unbeaten 6 wins out of 6 matches in the league. Andy won the toss and decided to have a bowl on a ‘hope for the best’ day weatherwise. In absence of Jonny Litler, Adrian Lacu (10/0/44/2) shared the new ball with Lewis Porter (10/1/27/3) and both managed to get wickets early on, forcing the homeside to get into recovery mode with the first 3 wickets gone for 25 in the 12th over. Zac Phair (57) found a helpful partner in Max Fitzgerald (18) and later Mark Makin (54), and Marple started to get the scoreboard ticking again, punishing the odd bad ball and the (very) few ‘oopsies’ in the field, and with Rob Kingham (30) chipping in as well, the home team wrestled itself to 192/8 from their 50 over allotment. Generally good fielding supported the bowling and although 192 might be a bit more than hoped for from 25/3/11.2, and scoring not easy with the gale and ground conditions, I am convinced Andy was the happier captain at half time.

Danny Leech (31) and Arthur McKenzie (12) played the conditions brilliantly and when Arthur was LBW to Joe Cash (10/1/37/1) in the 16th over, the pair had put on 52. Frank Farrington (58) came to the crease and found it difficult to start but worked patiently away. Both Danny and Adrian Lascu fell to excellent deliveries from Edward Saxelby (9/0/25/2) in athe 19th over, and when Lewis Porter and Andy Dufty met the same fate facing Jack Grundy (10/0/25/3) 6 overs later, the Marple players and supporters must have felt the match was now firmly back in their hands. Frank was not for giving up however, and kept eating away at the score despite losing partners regularly. He found a good partner in Ben Kettle and an excellent partner in George Moss (32) who showed good rhythm and despite good bowling by Mark Makin (9.3/0/43/4), Jack Grundy and Rob Kingham, the pair put on 51 for the 8th wicket. With the deficit reduced to 34 and 5 overs to go, James Bell got to the crease and in 2 overs another 14 runs were added. Jamie Sandlands was reduced mainly to dot balls but Frank had now reached his 50 and was definitively determined to do everything in his power to get us home.

With 18 required off 12 balls, Jamie got Frank back on strike in Makin’s last over. The second ball of that over went for 2 and Frank decided the 3rd ball deserved the same treatment as the first of the previous Makin over, which he had expertly smashed to long on. Unfortunately he ended up just a few yards short, finding one of the tallest fielders. Frank’s brilliant fight and our innings cruelly came to an end, 16 runs short of a win with 9 balls left (ed. Comments: I still have some of my nails). Fielding, keeping and bowling helped limit the score in the 1st innings, and it was great to see Arthur growing in his role as opener. George, Ben, Lewis and Jamie did great work supporting Frank and still going for their own shots when possible. A clear case of ‘it could have easily gone our way’.